Boyhood United supporter Neville made his debut for the club in 1992 and retired in 2011 to bring to an end a phenomenal club career in which he won eight Premier League titles, three FA Cups, three League Cups and the Champions League.

Neville was a regular under Ferguson between 1995 and 2007 and his unabashed support of United saw him quickly emerge as the player who symbolised fans' passion on the pitch.

The Sky Sports pundit recently recalled how former United goalkeeping coach Eric Steele, who was at the club for the last five years of Ferguson's managerial career, described the aura of representing the club.

“I always remember it was the goalkeeping coach Eric Steele who summarised it," Neville said in a TalkSPORT podcast. "He came up to me one day and he’d been here two years and he said, ‘Now I get it. It’s like a little island. When you’re on it you protect it and you look after it. And when you’re not on it, you’re gunned down. Anyone who comes towards us, you just gun them down.’

"And I thought it was the best explanation of how the Sir Alex Ferguson period was at the club, it was us, you look after each other, you defend your borders."

Neville added he 'didn't like' other clubs and purposefully avoided engaging with opposition players during his playing career.

"One of the lines in my book is 'United's everything, f**k the rest'," he added. "And that's how everyone felt. That's how I felt.

"I didn't care about any other player, any other club, any other fan. I didn't like any of them. Didn't want to like any of them, didn't want to engage with any of them, they just to me were an irrelevance.

"It was just United. It wasn't an arrogance, it was just a determination and a belief."